Generally speaking, the problems associated with loading cartridges into a firearm magazine are well known. This is particularly true for manual, or hand, loading where it is necessary to depress all previously loaded cartridges which are typically received through an opening in the magazine so as to lie in stack relationship since there is conventionally a spring for biasing the cartridges toward the opening and against which the previously loaded cartridges must be depressed. In addition to the biasing force of the spring, the cartridges are not large in size and, thus, are particularly difficult to manually manipulate.
Nevertheless, it is common practice to load cartridges into a firearm magazine by progressive compression of the magazine's spring. The cartridges are inserted one at a time against the ever increasing spring resistance as the magazine approaches a fully loaded condition. If the next cartridge is simply loaded against the previously loaded cartridge, it is recognized that considerably force and manual dexterity are required.
Over the years, the unaided loading of a firearm magazine in the described manner has become undesirable. It is not only time consuming and difficult, but manual loading without any manual assistance can lead to misalignment of cartridges within the magazine and, as a result, to jamming of the cartridges therewithin. In order to overcome such problems, there have been many different types of complicated manual devices proposed over the years.
By way of example, Switzer U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,386 discloses one type of device that has been commercialized. It is, unfortunately, inordinately complex and quite bulky in size, both of which are undesirable characteristics of any firearm accessory. Still further, the considerable complexity of the device is such that it can be subject to mechanical failure after a period of use.
Referring to Howard U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,909, there is another such manual magazine loading device that is disclosed. It, too, is relatively complex and large in size which is undesirable since the typical firearms enthusiast has only limited space for accessories such as a magazine loader in a typical accessory bag that is carried. With such serious restrictions on accessories, the device disclosed in Howard U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,909 is less than fully desirable.
In a very recent attempt at improvement over the prior art, Blackamore U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,660 discloses an entirely redesigned cartridge magazine that utilizes a spring engaged elevator. The magazine has a slot and the elevator has a hole or recess aligned with the slot for receiving a key. With this arrangement, the key can be utilized to depress the elevator against a spring for loading additional cartridges.
While ingenious, Blackamore U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,660 does nothing to deal with the problem of already existing magazines. It is also clearly quite expensive in nature and would require complete retooling for the magazine as well as possible reforming of the portion of a firearm adapted to receive the redesigned magazine. As a result, there has remained the problem of providing a device that is suitable for manually loading essentially every existing magazine.
As will be appreciated, the problem that is presented is to provide a device that is simple and inexpensive but achieves the goal of providing an effective manual cartridge loading device. This is especially important for firearm enthusiasts that may suffer from a disability such as an arthritic condition that makes it difficult to load cartridges by hand. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and achieving one or more of the resulting objects.